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Columbia Silences Its Marching Band

nytimes.com

11–20 of 38 posts

Re: Columbia Silences Its Marching Band

#12
Reading the article, it sounds like nothing prevents the band from doing all the things they used to do except perform at the football games. It also sounds like they are funded by the university to run around and prank others, which seems legitimate for the university to not shed any tears when the band drops the ball on its funding request. I’m sure it’s a fun tradition, but it also sounds potentially quite annoying depending on who the target of the joke is, and you can still have fun/ be annoying on campus without direct university funding.

Re: Columbia Silences Its Marching Band

#13

Reading the article, it sounds like nothing prevents the band from doing all the things they used to do except perform at the football games. It also sounds like they are funded by the university to run around and prank others, which seems legitimate for the university to not shed any tears when the band drops the ball on its funding request. I’m sure it’s a fun tradition, but it also sounds potentially quite annoyin…

Performing at games is the main point of marching bands. Who wants to be in a band that can't perform?

Re: Columbia Silences Its Marching Band

#15

As a Columbia grad I'm not surprised at all... the Columbia Administration is insanely conservative. I have never experienced as entrenched of a bureaucracy as I did at Columbia!

Can you help me understand your comment? I can't tell if your making a connection between conservative and entrenched.

Re: Columbia Silences Its Marching Band

#17
Current Columbia Student. Columbia's administration is absolutely terrible at cultivating any sense of school spirit. Some of this is a function of the fact that we're in NYC, but some of this can be laid at the hands of decisions like this, which are utterly tone-deaf. I love going here but I've had to work hard to create a sense of community.

Re: Columbia Silences Its Marching Band

#18
post #9

I hope some absurdly rich alumnus tightens the vice on Columbia over this behavior, as they are likely the only constituency with any power over the matter.

No one has that kind of influence on Ivy League schools now. They all have multi-billion dollar endowments.

Except outrage mobs, you mean?

Re: Columbia Silences Its Marching Band

#20

Reading the article, it sounds like nothing prevents the band from doing all the things they used to do except perform at the football games. It also sounds like they are funded by the university to run around and prank others, which seems legitimate for the university to not shed any tears when the band drops the ball on its funding request. I’m sure it’s a fun tradition, but it also sounds potentially quite annoyin…

The orgo night performance is one of the big events of the semester. Every student knows when and where it is, so nobody will be surprised or pranked.

As others have said, this is a big loss for what little school community there is, and is very in keeping with university administrator style.

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